Monday, 15 November 2010

BBC - BBC One Programmes -Turn Back Time - The High Street- 16th November

Next on: 1930s

A group of modern shopkeepers and their families are on the journey of a lifetime - they're taking over empty shops in a neglected market square in Shepton Mallet to see if they can turn back time for the British High Street. They'll live and trade through six key eras of history and in this episode they move into to the 1930s.
Life should be sweeter this week, as government regulations reduce working hours and cheap sugar means lots of sweets, confectionery and cake. Nostalgia boosts sales for the grocers, who have masses of 1930s recognisable brands, the dressmaker has to sell thirties glamour to the town, and the butcher has good old British beef.
The Edwardian bazaar is now a toy shop, reflecting the shopkeepers' target customers - children. But it is far from plain sailing; the Bakers find themselves running a cake shop, but cakes aren't their forte. Rivalry builds between the grocers and the butchers, under minding the community spirit of the high street.
The shopkeepers spend a week selling the 1930s to the town, but they have to pull out all the stops for Empire day - can they persuade a whole new generation of the joys of the traditional high street?

Photo: Great Depression

By the end of 1930, the number of unemployed people in Britain had risen from 1 million to 2.5 million. One of the reasons for this was because of the New York Stock Market Crash in October 1929, which in turn affected world trade. The Great Depression meant that toys were a luxury many couldn't afford in the early 1930s.